From Bad to Worse

March 5, 1770
Playing Time: 5-10 minutes

Synopsis:
Out on an errand, Nat runs into Constance Lillie, who is still searching for her dog Thimble. They spot Thimble and chase him down an alley, which leads them directly into a chaotic confrontation between a crowd of angry townspeople and Redcoats. In a series of stylized vignettes, Nat and Constance witness the events that later come to be known as the Boston Massacre

Key Vocabulary

• Ropewalk
• Redcoats
• Massacre
• Musket

Intro:

Play Game:

Follow Up: Agents of Influence: Mr. Revere's Engraving

Format: Cooperative Groups

• Paul Revere
• Silvermith
• Maker of False Teeth
• Patriot
• Engraver

Prompt:

1. A week or so has passed since the night of March 5, 1770, and you are planning to make an engraving depicting that terrible night. Since you were not there yourself, you have gathered information from others about what happened and what it looked like. Below are some of the accounts of that event that you have to read. You will want to represent most of what really happened, but you want to do so in a way that moves others to resent the presence of British troops and encourages their sympathy to the Patriots.
   
2. Read eye witness accounts of the incident:
   1. Account #1. An Anonymous Account of the Boston Massacre
   2. Account #2. George Robert Twelves Hewes, eyewitness
   3. Account #3. Report in the Boston Gazette and Country Journal: An account of a late military massacre at Boston, or the consequences of quartering troops in a populous town, March 12, 1770.
   4. Account #4. Deposition of Captain Thomas Preston of the 29th Regiment
   5. Account #5. What Nathaniel Wheeler saw from the warehouse.
      
      

Get worksheet: Printer Friendly Version

Discussion:

Compare your sketch to Paul Revere's Engraving